Trailer for my race car

As in to be towed by my race car, not to put my car inside.

I'm planning on running my Mini in One Lap of America and I am on the hunt for the right trailer.  Ideally a small, low profile, enclosed, with the potential to be modded to carry a spare set of wheels.  Oh, and on a budget.

I like the Hybrid Trailer's Vacationer trailer, but it is really expensive: https://www.amazon.com/Hybrid-Trailer-Co-Vacationer-Spare/dp/B00CBKTJN6

Then you have the other end of the spectrum with the Northern Tools cargo trailer: https://m.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200692633_200692633?cm_mmc=Google-pla&utm_source=Google_PLA&utm_medium=Trailers%20%2B%20Towing%20%3E%20Trailers&utm_campaign=Ultra-Tow&utm_content=57762&gclid=CjwKCAiA6seQBhAfEiwAvPqu10J80fcPiHMfY00mJT_RyvY9ZghdwupyOr0fYdm-soZh8f3q7nk6fhoCgY4QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Help me hive mind.

The HF 4 x 4 trailers are inexpensive, light, and easy to modify. Plenty of people I know use them (and I had one for years until I started towing the racecar around and didn't need it any more).

Pick one up, put it together, then WELD it together to reduce flexing. Put a piece of plywood on it, and then bolt whatever you want on (for mine I had mounts for 4 wheels/tires and a large Contico (lockable) box. But I've seen much fancier builds as well, with full enclosures, etc. Depends on what your fabrication skills are.

Also, take apart the hubs and put better grease in the bearings than what comes with it. 

That's the cheapest way to do it. Been done a million times and lots of different ideas out there for best way to set it up.

So what about putting a box on a HF trailer?  

*NOTE* - I have no idea how good the bearings are on the axles.  Hopefully someone can chime in on that- perhaps an easy bearing change would be in order as soon as you get it.

In theory, you can use some basic trailer construction for the box- like 2x2 frame with a light weight skin (like 1/8-1/4 ply with a simple fiberglass skin).   The box design would revolve around what you put inside and how you need to access it.  BTW, I've seen roof top carriers just like the Northern Tool one- and IIRC, they were practically being given away.

The bearings on the HF trailers seem fine, I used mine for 4-5 years with no issues and the prior owner had gone cross-country 3 times with it, all on the same bearings. The grease that comes in them from the factory is questionable though, so it's good practice to take them out and repack with some high-quality stuff. 

If you have the bucks, I've always been curious about these.

https://leroyengineering.com/collections/tire-trailers/products/paddock

I know a few people with Leroy trailers, and they impress me. The way they're built makes a lot of sense, and I have no doubt they'll still be great a decade later.

I've had a HF trailer, and they work fine. Not great, but they do the job, they're not maintenance free, but parts are cheap at the hammer store.

FYI: I looked at the trailer prices out of curiosity, saw that HF is having their President's day sale, 10% with no exclusions. 
 

I'm thinking of making a tire trailer from a john boat trailer that I bought. That'll be a separate thread. 

Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:

FYI: I looked at the trailer prices out of curiosity, saw that HF is having their President's day sale, 10% with no exclusions.

AFAIK, HF no longer sells the 4x4 trailer kit that was a popular starting point for tire trailers.  There was a recall on them a few years back (I don't remember why) and it's been discontinued ever since.

Look for a trailer with normal-sized wheels, the cheaper HF kit (which is what I had) came with 8" wheels.  I don't remember what size tires were on it, but they spun around twice the speed of the car's wheels which wasn't great for life on the low-quality, non-standard bearings that it came with.  Speaking of tires, whatever you buy make sure you get a spare.

The wheelbase is so short that backing these trailers up is almost impossible.  They're usually sprung for the maximum rated weight, but you're not going to want to be anywhere close to that so they're crashy over bumps.  Taking a leaf out of the springs might be worthwhile.

codrus (Forum Supporter) said:

Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:

FYI: I looked at the trailer prices out of curiosity, saw that HF is having their President's day sale, 10% with no exclusions.

AFAIK, HF no longer sells the 4x4 trailer kit that was a popular starting point for tire trailers.  There was a recall on them a few years back (I don't remember why) and it's been discontinued ever since.

I noticed that.  I was shopping around and found this option:

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/stirling-single-axle-galvanized-stirling-kit-trailer-4-ft-x-4-ft-504076-1616455?cid=Shopping-Google-Product-1616455&gclid=Cj0KCQiAjc2QBhDgARIsAMc3SqR40POSi4vmR_dE2iziDaJQuHikTLP25OsHjtQ6cuzbkQR2Mf_XZAEaAoQ_EALw_wcB

Looking at the Leroy Engineering trailer, why can't a clever GRMer with a tubing bender make one up?  Weld on some torsion axles in a BPattern you like - done.  Torsions seem ~$100 less than sprung axles.

One disadvantage to the HF 4x4 trailers is that the frame rails have slightly less than 4 feet between them.  This means that if you want to carry four tires and nestle them down between the rails (to reduce overall height and make it easier to see over) then you're limited to tires no wider than 205 or 225.